State Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments in Prop. 8 Case on September 6

FOR RELEASE

Contact: Lynn Holton, Public Information Officer, 415-865-7740

July 29, 2011

State Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments in Prop. 8 Case on September 6

demonstrators for and against prop 8San Francisco—The California Supreme Court today announced that it will hear oral arguments in Perry v. Brown, S189476, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 6, 2011, in the Supreme Court Courtroom, Earl Warren Building, 350 McAllister Street, San Francisco.

The Perry case involves whether the official proponents of Proposition 8 have legal standing to defend the measure in a case now pending before the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, based in San Francisco. In January 2011, the federal court requested the state Supreme Court to review the standing issue. After considering the matter, the Supreme Court agreed to do so. As stated by the Ninth Circuit, the standing issue is as follows:

“Whether under Article II, Section 8 of the California Constitution, or otherwise under California law, the official proponents of an initiative measure possess either a particularized interest in the initiative’s validity or the authority to assert the State’s interest in the initiative’s validity, which would enable them to defend the constitutionality of the initiative upon its adoption or appeal a judgment invalidating the initiative, when the public officials charged with that duty refuse to do so.”

The Supreme Court made the announcement late yesterday in conjunction with the release of its oral argument calendar for September 2011. Two other cases are scheduled for oral argument in the court’s regular courtroom in the afternoon on Tuesday, September 6, and four other cases are set for argument on Wednesday, September 7, 2011, at a special session to be held at Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.

The court’s calendar is posted on the California Courts website.

Due to widespread public interest in the Perry case, the Supreme Court has approved a live statewide television broadcast of oral arguments on the California Channel, a statewide public affairs network. The court also will provide an overflow viewing area for the public and press in the Milton Marks Conference Center Auditorium, located on the lower level of the Hiram Johnson State Office Building, 455 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco.

A limited number of seats for public and press will be available in the courtroom.

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